Outside The Alphabet
by shammyb1
Summary: Takes place after Seven Up- After realizing she loved Morelli and breaking off the engagement was a mistake, she goes to make up with him only to find him in the middle of something with Joyce.  She left heartbroken and with out knowledge, pregnant.


Morelli had just stormed out of my apartment after canceling our engagement. God, I was so mad at him right now. I mean his job is dangerous too, but you don't see _me _barging into _his _house pretty much telling him he's crazy. I mean, _maybe_ I get shot at a lot, but I don't get hit _that _much and I pretty much always get my guy. It was kind of sweet though that he was worried. Maybe I should apologize to him, you know, for yelling, and getting annoyed, and for worrying him. Jesus, I was going soft. Usually I would never forgive him so fast. Lately I was feeling bipolar, but hey, it could just be all the doughnuts I'd been eating. I'd been craving doughnuts a lot lately and it had definitely been showing through my waistband. I'd been really pissed about it.

I decided to go and apologize to Morelli, maybe get some sweaty make up sex out of it if I was lucky. I add an extra coat of mascara and even swiped on eyeliner, put on some jeans that made my butt look amazing, and a low cut shirt that made my boobs look bigger. Now that I thought about it, my bra was feeling tighter than usual. Damn doughnuts, starting tomorrow I was going to go on a diet.

I called an order in to Pino's for an extra-large pepperoni and extra cheese pizza, Morelli's favorite. I grabbed the keys to my beat up lug of a car and made my way to Morelli's, stopping at Pino's to pick up the order on the way.

His car was in the driveway when I pulled up and I decided knocking would be my best bet since we had just had the biggest fight of our relationship, well what used to be our relationship. The truth was that I really did love Morelli, more than Ranger, and wanted to move forward in our relationship. I don't know exactly how long I have, heck I might have loved him the whole time, but when he walked out it made me realize exactly how much I cared for him. If getting married was the next step, then so be it. I'd do it.

I waited awhile for him to come to the door and just when I had about given up a sex haired, shirtless Morelli came to the door _with a smirking Joyce Barnhardt wearing his t-shirt. _Holy shit. Holy. Mother-fucking. Shit. I…..I….I was speechless.

"Stephanie. What are you doing here?" He asked, a mixture of fake annoyance, guilt, and surprise flashing through his chocolate brown eyes.

I stared at him, eyes wide and mouth wider. He….he ch-cheated on me. He'd already replaced me. At this thought, my brain seemed to come back on and I took action.

I shoved the pizza box at him, not caring whether it landed in his hands or on the ground. "I wanted to apologize, but now I'm having second thoughts."

I turned and began running to my car that I had parked on the curb. He ran after me and I heard the _thunk_ of the pizza box hitting the ground. I reached my car before I felt his hand on my wrist, making it impossible to get in and drive away.

There was one more thing I needed to tell him, whether he cared or not, before I left. I turned to face him. "I also came to tell you that I love you, more than Ranger, more than _anyone_."

He stilled, stunned, and let go of me. He stared at me, searching my face for some shred of doubt. I knew he wouldn't find any though because I believed with all my heart the words I had just spoken. It was obvious I was too late to get him back. I wrenched the door to my car open and drove back to my apartment before collapsing in sobs within the emptiness of my room. I fell asleep sometime around three, only to wake up again at seven. I pulled myself to the bathroom and found myself a wreck. Blood shot eyes and makeup smeared all over my puffy face did not look sexy on me. I only added to the sexiness when I wretched up everything in my stomach and more if it was possible.

I cleaned up as best I could before going over to my parents. I found mom ironing a hole in my dad's good pants. She looked up when I came in, eyes crazy. I could tell she had heard the engagement was over. Her eyes softened somewhat at the sight of me.

"Is it true?" She asked the disappointment evident in her voice.

"Yeah, it happened last night."

"Can't you fix it?" She was begging now.

I sniffled. "I tried." I croaked out, "He was with Joyce. I-I went over to apologize and found them to-together," before bursting back into tears I thought I had run out of.

She gasped. I'm surprised she hadn't heard this already.

"I'm moving to Georgia." I had made the decision to move last night during my pity party. I couldn't face seeing either of _them _and Georgia sounded like my best bet. What with all the warmth and southern hospitality it seemed to promise. Plus at the moment I wanted to smother myself with all the fried food I could find.

"What? Are you crazy!" She cried.

"No, I need to get away though."

She nodded, defeated.

Grandma Mazur chose that moment to come into the kitchen. "Did I hear you say something about leaving? Where are you going? Is it someplace exotic? I heard Switzerland was real nice. All them mountains and chocolate they're famous for I heard about on the travel channel. I doubt you could bring your gun though with them being neutral and all that crap." She mused.

I shook my head. "I'm moving to Georgia."

"Well that's hardly exotic," she pouted, "I guess you could get a nice tan though, maybe pick up one of those funny accents. They wouldn't mind a couple extra guns around. Maybe you could practice on some of those deer they got down there and put the antlers up on your wall."

"Uh huh, sure. I need to go. I'm going to quit my job at the bonds agency and start packing."

Mother looked like she was about to faint and those pants she was ironing looked as though they were going to be perfectly creased for the rest of their existence, if she didn't burn a hole through them.

"Bye, dad." I called to him. I knew he had heard the whole conversation.

I heard him mutter something about guns and Grandma Mazur.

I mulled over my upcoming move as I drove to the office. I felt as though I was starting over, making a new me, and it felt great. I parked right outside and strode into the office, totally at ease for the first time since yesterday.

Connie was working at her desk, a stack of new FTA files right beside her. "These are for you." She said not even looking up, obviously busy with something.

"I can't take them." I simply said.

She looked up, confusion written all over her face, and pushed the stack towards me. "Why not?"

I shrugged. "I'm quitting and moving to Georgia."

She stared at me as though I had grown a third eye, or maybe she was noticing that my boobs were bigger. Either one would cause the reaction I was getting. I hoped it was the boobs though; I was starting to really like them bigger.

I continued. "Morelli cheated with Joyce and the engagement is off and I feel like getting a new start. Maybe a new hair cut would help too." I mused.

"You can't quit! That's crazy." She said. "And that skank Barnhardt can be expecting a bitch slap with her name on it the next time she's here."

"I've already decided. Say bye to Vinnie and tell Lula to stop by my apartment around noon, I'm going to the library."

I finished explaining and left with a tearful goodbye. Connie had become a good friend.

I stopped at the bank on my way to the library and withdrew all my money before closing my account. I parked on the street outside the library before going in. It was way to quiet and dusty for my taste, but I needed to use a computer. I found a cheap apartment for rent in a small town called Cartersville and called the owner and set up everything before powering down the computer. Now I just had to pack my car and hit the road. I had printed off directions to my new home off of Google so I had that covered.

By the time I reached home, my entire car smelled of Cluck-In-The-Bucket fried chicken that I had picked up on the way home for Lula. I grabbed the greasy bucket and headed to my apartment and found Lula waiting outside my door, practically frantic.  
>"What's this hear bout you moving to Georgia. I'm thinkin' I need to get my ears checked 'cuz everyone keeps telling me that." She quieted at the sight of the chicken.<p>

I handed over the bucket and used my keys to let us in. "It's true, I am moving."

"Who's gonna have your back now when you're out catching some dumb ass?" She seemed sad now. Lula was never sad.

"No one. I was thinking of writing books."

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

"Tony just five more minutes and we'll be there okay? Just stay still for that long, please."

"But I wanna be there _now_." He whined. He had been stuck in this car for ten hours straight and at the tender age of three he was definitely at the edge of a full blown temper tantrum.

"Don't worry. Just a couple more minutes than you can meet Nana and Grandpa. They're really excited to get to know you."

"Okay." He complied, humming along to the music on the radio and looking as though he were deep in thought.

"Mommy?" He asked, suddenly shy.

"Yeah, what's on your mind?"

"Why don't I have a dad?" He asked, totally innocent and not realizing the true weight of the question.

How in the world was I supposed to answer that? What was I supposed to say? Your father and I were engaged, I lost him, tried to get him back but found him with my archnemesis so I decided to move to Georgia? I don't think so.

"You do, he just doesn't know about you."

"Why?"  
>"I moved before I knew I was pregnant with you."<p>

"Why didn't you call and tell him?"

I sighed, getting exasperated by how it bad sounded. "It was complicated."

"Oh." That seemed to settle him and he delved back into his inner thoughts while I let my own take over.

I had moved to Georgia shortly after trying to get the man I loved back only to find him in the arms of another woman. It had killed me, so I had started over, rebuilt myself. I began writing a series about a bounty hunter using the stories I had from my days. Along with the haircut and tan I got, I felt refreshed. The books had remained on the New York Bestseller list since their debut and I had written three so far, each a huge hit. I found out I was pregnant with Tony four days after moving to Cartersville. It was a huge shock and only mad me angrier at Morelli because I finally had a good reason to be. He had used a defective condom and had gotten me _pregnant_! It had been three years since I had been back to Trenton and Tony was going to meet his grandparents for the first time. The only thing I was dreading was the huge chance that I would run into someone that recognized some of the features Tony had as the same exact ones Morelli had.

I was jarred out of my thought by Tony screaming repeatedly, "We're here! We're here! We're here! We're here!" and doing his best to jump while strapped into his car seat.

I laughed; it was always refreshing to talk to be around Tony. Everything was so simple at the age of three.

I unbuckled him from the car seat and we made our way to the front door hand in hand. I could tell my mother still had her intuition because she was standing on the front porch with Grandma Mazur.

My mother, Nana, as she was now known, met us at the bottom of the porch smiling and crying tears of joy. She leaned down to level up with Tony and hugged him enthusiastically. He returned the favor. Once the finished she held him at arm's length to look at him.

"Hi, I'm Tony. You're my Nana." He said. He had definitely gotten Morelli's self-confidence.

She smiled and laughed. She had a few more wrinkles around her eyes, but other than that she looked the same. It was comforting.

"Yep, and this is Grandma Mazur." She gestured behind her.

Grandma Mazur was looking down on us smiling as best she could with her dentures. She waved and I noticed that she had gotten a horrible, bright orange spray tan.

"Nice to meet ya, want to come and watch the travel channel with me?" She said, oblivious to the stares she was getting from Tony and I.

"Yeah! Can I mommy?" He asked his puppy dog eyes on full display.

I had barely nodded before he had turned and raced up the steps, Grandma Mazur in close pursuit.

Mom was sure to tell me how much he looked like Morelli and was already worried of the gossip it would cause the minute they had left. I had been back less than five minutes and she was already trying to suck me back into the rumor mill already. I was _not _going to worry about it. I was on vacation and so far .!

I ran inside and told Tony I was going to see some old friends and to be good for Nana before heading back out and driving downtown to the old bond's office. I drove downtown and parked outside the bakery making a quick decision to run in and get a Boston crème doughnut for old time's sake. I was savoring the last bite as I walked outside when I saw someone looking at the back of my car with a pen and pad in hand.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing? Get away from my car!" I yelled.

The guy looked up and I just about lost it. It was Morelli.

******A/N: Hello everyone! This is my first Between-The-Numbers fanfic. Please review and tell me what you think. I would love some suggestions, constructive criticism, ideas, etc. Thanks so much for reading!  
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**P.S.: Did you get the title? :D  
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